To beginners, the idea of creating a digital presence can seem overwhelming or impossible. However, it’s a simple way to lead traffic to your restaurant or small business. Below are easy fundamental steps to strengthen your digital presence.

1. Own your Google Business Profile
Google Business Profiles are free to use and simple to set up. They are often your customer’s first impression of your restaurant, and you want to make sure it accurately portrays your business. Ensure all the information on the profile like the address and phone number are correct. Make sure your Google profile includes an updated menu (with updated pricing), photos of food and good reviews. Remember to request reviews for your business on your profile to remind your customers to leave a review while visiting your restaurant.

2. Social Media accounts
Facebook and Instagram are often another chance to make a good first impression to potential customers. Keeping your Facebook and Instagram pages up to date is essential. Businesses should post on their accounts at least 2-3 times per week. An updated menu should link to the page, or at least in a photo album or pinned post.

To gain followers or page likes, host gift card giveaways ($25 – $50 gift cards to your restaurant). Remember to require folks to like your page, share and comment on your post to enter to win. This helps you maximize your audience reach. Reaching out to local businesses and partnering with them to host giveaways is another way to expand your online audience.

3. Use free/cheap tools
Canva, Facebook Ads Manager and Hootsuite are all free tools that make it easy to strengthen your digital presence. Canva is an online design and publishing tool that people with little to no graphic design experience can easily use to create digital ads, edit photos, create animations and more. Their thousands of templates to choose from make it simple and fast to use. On Facebook Ads Manager and Hootsuite, users can link their Facebook and Instagram accounts and schedule posts ahead of time. This planning allows more time to focus on the day-to-day tasks of managing a business.

4. Take plenty of photos!
Sharing photos of food and other items attracts the most attention. So, take photos of your food and products often. Most online audiences want “real” photos of your products, not stock photos found on the internet. Even if your photos aren’t as pretty as professional ones, people prefer real images of your food. Remember to ask permission before posting photos your patrons took or left in reviews.

In all, your digital presence is often the first impression of your restaurant. It has the power to influence your business. This means if you control your digital presence, YOU have the power to influence your business!

For more information about marketing, contact April Bias, Brown Foodservice Marketing Manager at 606-638-1139 Ext. 261 or abias@brownfoodservice.com.